Convoy RS 3


Convoy RS 3 was a South Atlantic convoy from 22 to 31 March 1943 between Gibraltar and Freetown in Sierra Leone. A convoy series that ran from 1943 to 1945. The convoy was part of the Battle of the Atlantic in the Second World War. The convoy lost its three biggest ships to U-boat attacks.
In March 1943 most of the 108 ships sunk by U-boats were in convoy, that led to a crisis in Allies of [World War II|Allied] shipping. By April, more escort groups were available and shipping losses declined. Some U-boats were diverted from the Atlantic to West Africa.

Background

Unverzagt and Wolfpack Wohlgemut were on the way to form patrol lines off the Azores to attack a UGS convoy a series of slow convoys run from the United States to Gibraltar beginning with Operation Torch. The convoy had been revealed by B-Dienst, a code-breaking department of the German [Naval Intelligence Service].

Convoy UGS 6

Before the expected convoy was spotted, U-130 found Convoy UGS 6 of 45 ships, protected by the US destroyers,,,,, and. Champlin detected the U-boat and sank it. With the sea so calm, it was difficult for the U-boats to close on the convoy because the destroyers had centimetric radar but lacked High-frequency direction finding to pinpoint U-boat wireless broadcasts. Late on 13 March, U-172 sank a straggler and Wolfpack Tümmler joined the attack.
That day, attacks by U-513, U-167 and U-172 were defeated by the convoy escorts and the U-boats were forced to retire. On 14 September U-106, U-167 and U-513 were driven off and U-515 was damaged by depth charging. On 15 March U-159 and U-524 attacked the convoy submerged in daylight and U-524 sank Wyoming. On 16 March U-106 directed nine U-boats to the convoy but the escorts thwarted their attempts to attack the convoy. U-524, with U-172, made a simultaneous submerged attack in the evening. On the evening of 17 March U-167 torpedoed Molly Pitcher which was sunk later by U-521.

Allied air cover

On the next day, the convoy received air cover; U-524 maintained contact but was unable to attack and the convoy operation was terminated. U-524 was caught on the surface and sunk by the depth-charges of a B-24 bomber from the 2nd Antisubmarine Squadron on 22 March. Karl Dönitz the commander of U-boats sent the remaining seven U-boats to form a cordon from the west to the south-east of the Canary Islands to attack another UGS convoy. No UGS convoys were found and BdU moved the U-boats into the area between the African coast and the islands, along with that was en route to Freetown in Sierra Leone with the name gruppe Seeräuber based on reports from B-Dienst. The US Navy had established Fleet Air Wing 15 at Naval Air Station Port Lyautey in Morocco, in January, with the patrol squadrons VPB-73 and VPB-92, each with twelve Catalina flying boats. In March the United States Army Air Forces 1st Antisubmarine Squadron and the 2nd Antisubmarine Squadron of the 480th [Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing#480th Antisubmarine Group|2037th Antisubmarine Wing (Provisional)] with twelve B-24 Liberator bombers each, joined the naval aircraft at Port Lyautey.

Convoy RS 3

The RS convoy series ran from Gibraltar to Freetown in Sierra Leone during 1943, the reciprocal SR convoys from 1943 to 1944. When Convoy RS 3 left Gibraltar for Freetown, it consisted of the merchant ships,,, the cable layer, whose captain, Harold Milne, was the convoy commodore, the tugs,, the Seagoing Tugs ST Empire Ace and ST Empire Oberon. Lady Denison-Pender was returning after laying a cable between Gibraltar and Casablanca for communications at the Casablanca Conference. The convoy was escorted by the and the .

Prelude

made contact with the convoy on 28 March between the Canary Islands and Dakar. The Allied commanders did not know that the convoy was in danger and on the morning of 28 March, the convoy escorts Bridgewater and Burdock were diverted to reinforce the escort of a northbound convoy, leaving Convoy RS 3 to aircraft anti-submarine patrols.

28–30 March

Shortly after the escorts left, attacked and torpedoed the 5,414 GRT, SS Lagosian at 31°12′N, 15°43′W, with seven crew killed and 39 survivors. The ship broke amidships and sank within seven minutes. Eleven survivors were rescued by the tug Empire Denis. The convoy started zig-zagging and tried to increase speed but the tugs could not keep up and speed was reduced to. At 15:00 torpedoed the 5,311 GRT Silverbeech which exploded and sank at 25°20′N, 15°55′W with 62 killed and 7 survivors. As the ships were in shallow waters, the convoy commodore was not sure whether they should run into a protective coastal minefield or fight the U-boats. A few minutes later U-172 launched a salvo of four torpedoes that missed. As night fell at 20:00 the convoy stopped zig-zagging.
U-172 caught up with the convoy and its first attack with one torpedo missed but then torpedoed with a second attack with two torpedoes. The ship sank at 02:00 the next morning at 24°44′N, 16°48′W with 29 killed and 27 survivors. Aircraft on convoy patrol attacked the U-boats and U-67 was sent out of control by a depth-charge attack, descending to before the crew regained control. After surfacing the crew found that six torpedo containers on deck and much of the superstructure were missing. U-159 was forced by air attack below the surface before the crew got the boat back under control. U-172 stayed with U-67 while it was inspected; when it was judged capable of returning to base its captain gave surplus fuel to, which took over the patrol to Dakar instead of U-159 that was diverted to a quiet spot off the Azores. On 29 March the U-boats lost contact and the attack was abandoned on 30 March when the convoy reached Freetown.

Aftermath

Analysis

March was a good month for the U-boat arm, Convoy SC 121 lost 13 ships from 7 to 11 March for no U-boat losses. Convoy SC 122 and Convoy HX 229 were attacked by forty U-boats and from 16 to 20 March, 21 freighters were sunk. With losses elsewhere 108 Allied merchant ships of 627,000 GRT were sunk. By the end of the month support groups became operational and despite more determined attacks by the U-boats, shipping losses declined. U-boats were sent to west Africa, one boat sinking seven of nine ships in Convoy TS 37, a Takoradi−Sierra Leone convoy. Convoy HX 233 was sent by a more southerly route to Britain with a large escort and only one ship was sunk.

Casualties

The crew of Lagosian suffered seven killed of 46 men, 63 of the 69 crew members of Silverbeech were killed and the loss of Moanda cost 29 killed with 27 survivors.

Subsequent operations

After gruppe Seeraüber was disbanded on 30 March, the U-boats operated individually off Freetown. U-124 attacked Convoy OS 45 on 2 April and sank two ships of 9,547 GRT but was then sunk by the 37th Escort Group. U-167 was attacked on 6 April by two Hudsons of 233 Squadron RAF|233 Squadron] from Gibraltar and was scuttled after the crew disembarked, about fifty of the men getting ashore on Gran Canaria. After much diplomatic haggling, the survivors were released and transported on a tug on the night of 13/14 April to a rendezvous with, some later to be accommodated in U-159 and for the return to France. An Italian U-boat,, sank two independently sailing ships of a total of 9,264 GRT. U-455 and planted mines off Casablanca on 10 and 11 April, that sank one ship and damaged two. The rest of the U-boats reached Freetown in early April.

order of battle

NameFlagTypeNotes
Type IXC submarine
Type IXB submarine
Type IXC submarine
Type IXC/40 submarine
Type IXC submarine
Type IXC submarine
Type IXC submarine
Type IXC submarineSunk 22 March
NameFlagTypeNotes
Type IXB submarine
Type IXC submarine
Type IXC/40 submarine
Type IXC submarine
Type IXC submarine
Type IXC submarine
NameFlagTypeNotes
Type IXC submarine
Type IXB submarine
Type IXB submarine
Type IXC submarine
Type IXC/40
NameFlagTypeNotes
Type IX submarine
Type IXC submarine
Type VIIC submarine
Type IXC submarine
Type IXC submarine
Type VIIC submarine